Sundowns are done being big spenders – Pitso
The Masandawana coach wants to make it club culture to promote players from the junior ranks.
Keletso Makgalwa of Mamelodi Sundowns celebrates goal Pitso Mosimane, coach of Mamelodi Sundowns during MTN8 2019 match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Bloemfontein Celtic at Lucas Moripe Stadium, Pretoria, on 17 August 2019 ©Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
Mamelodi Sundowns have been known as big spenders when it comes to recruiting players, whether from abroad or luring them from local rivals. However, Downs coach Pitso Mosimane says the days of buying a lot of players are gone.
READ: Jali looking to continue playing regular football at Sundowns
The Masandawana coach wants to make it club culture to promote players from the junior teams. The reserve team has produced players like Percy Tau and Motjeka Madisha.
The latest duo to emerge from the MDC team and do well in the senior side are Keletso Makgalwa and Sphelele Mkhulise, who both played in the Telkom Knockout final against Maritzburg United this past weekend.
Mosimane said he was “unhappy” when he sent Mkhulise out on loan to Black Leopards where he expected the youngster to develop further, but Lidoda Duvha let him go.
“I was a little bit unhappy when Leopards let him go, they said he is not very good. Same with Keletso at Maritzburg. Halfway through the season and Eric Tinkler said Keletso was not the right kind of player for him and I respect Eric’s opinion but they made a mistake,” said Mosimane.
“They don’t watch the MultiChoice Diski Challenge games because Mkhulise was the top goa-scorer for us the year before. Keletso was also among the top goal-scorers in the MDC but they don’t know them. These players have now played in the Caf Champions League, so it is always good for these boys to come up from the MDC.”
He added: “Motjeka Madisha is from the MDC, Percy Tau came from the MDC and now we have got two more which is good. There’s one young one, Prince, he wears jersey no.10, you must look at him and next year we will give him an opportunity to come.
“We can’t be going the same way as Sundowns of busy buying players. We have a responsibility for the young ones. We only bought two players in the last transfer window and it doesn’t look good when Sundowns buys two players. We have senior players who are a little bit over the age so we are trying to find players but where are we going to find a player to replace Hlompho Kekana? You can see he is slowing down but he has the heart, he knows how to pass the ball and when he and Andile Jali are on [the] song, we play well.”
For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.
